In the last few years the environment of consumer digital devices has changed tremendously. Smart phones, Tablet PCs and other mobile devices have experienced a rise in distribution and popularity. Nowadays these devices are an integral part of the everyday life of millions of people all over the world. With the ability to get and distribute information quickly and easily; the ability to communicate with a multitude of people simultaneously and at any time and with the ready availability of usable software for these sorts of devices, many tasks that have been traditionally viewed as being performed exclusively on a desktop personal computer have been transferred completely or in part to the domain of mobile devices.
Furthermore the mobile devices' increased processing power and technical capabilities allow and, accordingly, provide completely new possibilities with respect to creating and working with media. Most of these new possibilities and usage scenarios take advantage of the mobile and dynamic character of the devices and provide media editing opportunities with usage scenarios that are different from the standard approaches to media editing on stationary computer devices.
One particular feature of mobile devices is the close integration between media handling (e.g., generation, and editing) and media distribution via social network platforms that are readily accessible from mobile devices. In cases of posting media items on social networking sites—the particular processing steps that produced the posted media items are usually not important to save or remember. Media processing steps that provide a one-time result give the editing and generation process on mobile devices a very dynamic and fast-paced feel. For example, it is common to offer the user the option of quickly applying any of a large number of effects before a digital image is uploaded. The effects will be applied and the modified image is distributed to the social networking sites without significant user interaction. Such approaches feature very quick and individual results that offer the user the option to create, edit and share individualized digital images in real time.
On the other hand, such an approach cannot, however, be found in combination with video media material. Dynamic real time theme based video generation, either before, during, or after recording video material is not provided on mobile devices. Of course, editing video material in general is tedious, e.g., cutting, reordering specific sequences, selecting background music, and adding individual effects to the video material are typically required. After all these actions, the final video needs to be rendered which, depending on the length and amount of effort that went into the editing process, might take from several minutes to several hours depending on the computational power of the device on which the rendering is performed.
Thus, what is needed is a system and method for computer devices, preferably mobile devices that supports a user who wishes to generate or record video material and edit it using well-known and easy-to-use processes of the sort offered in connection with digital photo images on video material. It would be useful if such a system provides a number of individual themes, selectable by the user, and wherein the themes comprise theme-specific music, intro, outro and multiple effects. It would further be useful if the user were to be in charge of selecting and incorporating the effects. It would also be useful if the applied effects could be viewed in real time, preferably during recording of the video material as the effects are applied.
Heretofore, as is well known in the media editing industry, there has been a need for an invention to address and solve the above-described problems. Accordingly it should now be recognized, as was recognized by the present inventors, that there exists, and has existed for some time, a very real need for a system and method that would address and solve the above-described problems.
Before proceeding to a description of the present invention, however, it should be noted and remembered that the description of the invention which follows, together with the accompanying drawings, should not be construed as limiting the invention to the examples (or preferred embodiments) shown and described. This is so because those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains will be able to devise other forms of the invention within the ambit of the appended claims.